Growing Sorrow
by RedCloakedMaiden
Summary: Into the Woods oneshot, pre-show. The Witch was once a young woman who was beautiful, good and innocent, with a name and a love that would bring her downfall and give her hope again.


**Growing Sorrow**

* * *

_Her name was Rue_

Once Upon a Time, there lived a young woman named Rue. She was beautiful and a good girl, but the villagers all avoided her because she was a witch and so was her mother. Her mother was called Dame Gothel by the people and her child called her Mother Gothel and she was wary of the common folk and warned her daughter of them, but the girl did not listen. She saw the beauty and goodness in everything and believed that so were they.

_Her mother named her after a plant_

When Rue turned seventeen years old, she fell in love. A young man moved next door to her and opened up a bakery. Everyday, while she tended to the garden that she and her mother planted, she would watch him through his window, longing for a single glance, a charming smile, a happy laugh to float her way. Her adoration grew over the summer with her herbs and strengthened.

_Her love blossomed like the flowers among the herbs, longing to be noticed by her true love _

When her mother discovered her daughter's infatuation, she was stricken. She told her daughter that this mortal would only bring her sorrow and regret, that she was better off without her, but the girl wouldn't listen. Then the mother grew furious at Rue's stubborn obsession with him and shouted that once he had used her, he'd leave her and so would every other man in the world, no one wants a broken girl, but Rue insisted that he would never betray her.

_She had grown tall and strong like the plants in the garden and the magic in her blood_

Then, with final desperation, disapointed that her child be so taken with a man she's never even met that she'd turn against her own mother and her sacred duty to her magic, Rue's mother decided to leave her and this world. Before she left, she gives her girl the garden and warns her to never lose the beans. They are magic and far too powerful to place in the hands of mortals. If she did lose them, a curse would be placed upon Rue, one that will fit the circumstances, what ever they may be. The girl promised she will and the mother is gone forever.

_Throughout the winter, the plant is gone, _

_but the seeds wait, hoping that the sunlight will be seen again and they can bloom once more _

Spring comes, the Baker returned from a winter away, and Rue is now known by the people as 'The Witch' , the term that they once referred to her mother as. She didn't mind it, and apparently, neither did the Baker. Her plants grew healthily and bloomed beautiful and brightly colored from all the time she spent outside with them, hoping to catch glimpses of him and perhaps she wouldl catch his attention.

_Love was like dandelions in the garden, they pop up in unexpected places at the worst of times and thrive there_

Now the sun was strongest and summer had arrived. With it comes the most shocking surprise. The Baker vanishes for three days and then returned, and returns with a young, beautiful woman and a small child! She could feel her heart shattering as he kisses her gently and rubs her swollen belly. Rue finds herself jealous of this woman, his wife. She has ebony hair, so different from the man's yellow hair and her own abundant red curls. The boy, too has her dark hair and eyes, but he looks like his father. There is no doubt that they are not a family. The Baker must have come to find a place and set up, then returned for his family once settled.

_A flower found anywhere is loved by anyone, a flower found only there is loved by only them_

Rue blamed the ebony haired wife as the reason why the Baker pays her no attention. She is expecting another one, it's early, but she can tell. Although she should be giving up on her crush, she didn't. She longs for him even more desperately now. Not just as a young love, but as a husband. She dreamed of the way their marriage bed would be and imagined little children playing in the garden.

_The weed is often troublesome to get rid of, but it causes more problems when left to grow _

Then, one autumn night, he came. Rue heard something and goes outside to see. He's in her garden.

He was picking her plants off the vines, harvesting them, like a scavenger or thief. She stood frozen for a moment and then she reacted.

He dropped to both knees, pleading, his wife was expecting a child in the early spring, and she longed for greens of all sorts: cabbage, asparagus, watercress, lettuce, and he was only a poor Baker who couldn't afford to buy them at the market, and he was so afraid he'd lose his wife and their unborn child unless he got them the herbs.

She knew of his wife and her pregnancy, and for a moment, Rue wanted to refuse him, let the peasant woman die for all she cared, she felt nothing for him compared to herself. But it was him, in her garden, asking her.

_If given enough to live on, encouragement grows_

Rue kissed him. He was rough and smelled of smoke and dough, but she didn't care. All that matter was that they were in love and Rue showed him that when she let him go past kissing.

When it was done, Rue found a basket and filled it with herbs that she picked herself, careful not to put in any magical ones.

She handed it to him and told him that she would give them whatever herbs the mother desired, but in exchange she wanted something. He offered to come round and share her bed so more, but she declined. Rue asked for the child.

_A flower given from another's garden is the rarest and most beautiful of all_

She reminded him that his wife was young, they could have another child if they wanted too, and besides, they already had one of their own. She would never have a baby, and if they couldn't have a family together, then she could raise his child for them. She would feed, clothe, and love the child as if it was her own.

He agreed.

He waved cheerfully good-bye and vanished over the garden wall, holding the basket of greens.

There was a boom, then a crash, just like the night her mother left. A flash of lightening. Her body convulsed and shook, then she collapsed to the ground.

When she got up, her red hair had turned to a grey wrinkled, straggly locks. Her fair skin was wrinkled and frail, her features twisted and distorted. What was once a thin nose was now large and long, pleasantly plump lips sagged and her large dark eyes were now squinty. She hobbled over three rows to a plant, stripped clean. Her magic beans were gone.

_One bad thing, too much rain or sun, that should have been good, can destroy it all easily_

Her mother was right. Mortals couldn't be trusted, they were liars, thieves and violent monsters. That man had taken advantage of her and stole her most precious things. He had agreed to give away his own child for some greens. Now she was cursed to be ugly and old forever, so no matter how young and beautiful she really was, no man would ever look at her again.

_The earth dies with the fallen leaves and the snow cleanses the ground before it is reborn _

The winter was long. A time of death and then rebirth into spring. Approriate, she thought, because at the end of autumn, her beauty and innocence and belief in goodness died and now that spring has begun, the babe is born.

The Witch enters the house moments afterwards, the magic was not diminshed by the curse and she could tell it had happened. When she comes, the Baker turns pale, as he remembers his promise and sees an ugly old hag instead of the beautiful woman. He instantly began to claim that that this witch, Dame Gothel, he calls her, she has been mistakened for her mother, had bewitched him into making such a promise like she transformed herself into looking beautiful before. She ignored him and demanded the child. The ebony haired wife looks from the hideous Witch to her husband, terrified, and clutched the bundle closer.

The Witch sighed and snapped her fingers, the woman lets go of her child forcibly and the Witch picks it up. She studies the babe as the Baker rushed to his wife's side and began to beg them for the child, for mercy, to understand. She ignored him.

_A flower's beauty is not in the color or petals, but by the precious time it has to bloom_

The child was perfect. She didn't expect to fall in love like this, not being bitter and broken since last fall. A quick check tells her that it is a girl, she had pale hairs, already turning yellow, her face was pink and she was beautiful. The girl was perfect, beautiful and innocent like she had been. And what had happened? She met a mortal man. Fury rose in her. Never will this babe know sorrow and regret. She raised her hand, protectively clutching her new daughter close and curses the family before her. The boy stared at her, he's too young to remember this, but she will.

_If you let weeds grow in your garden, that's all you will have to harvest_

Back at home, she holds her baby, her child, her daughter. She loves her. This babe will call her Mother Gothel, like she always called her mother. They will mother and daughter, united against the world. Unlike all those other mortals, this girl will always be beautiful, good and innocent. Never will she know regret. And Mother Gothel once again picks a name from her garden.

_Her name is Rapunzel_


End file.
